No understanding of…

our city’s metro system. Zhuzhou locomotive works from China is planning to sue our governments because the bids to create the new metro cars had a condition that the trains had to run on rubber tires. They say it was a direct exclusion of any other train makers except Bombardier and Alstom. Anyway, Zhuzhou doesn’t plan to make steel wheel trains. What Zhuzhou doesn’t understand is that our metro runs on exclusively on rubber tires. There has to be significant upgrades to the tracks to let steel wheel trains run. This construction in our metro would be extremely expensive and could shut down the system for one whole year. If steel wheel train makers want to bid, let them; on he condition that they upgrade our system for free. And if the cost is blended into the projected price, then their bid price will be significantly higher than Alstom and Bombardier’s bids. This way, we only have to gain from the conversion of the metro.

MONTREAL - There's more trouble for the Bombardier-Alstom consortium, whose locked-in deal to build Montreal's new métro cars was terminated and thrown into open competition last week. The challenger, who apparently was instrumental in blocking the deal, said yesterday he will sue to change the stipulation in Friday's call for tenders that the cars must have rubber tires.

Glen T. Fisher said the lawsuit will be launched in about two weeks by high-profile civil rights lawyer Julius Grey, on grounds that the rubber-tire clause constitutes a thinly veiled rigging of the terms to favour Bombardier and Alstom, to the detriment of the Chinese firm he represents, CSR Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Co. Ltd. Zhuzhou is proposing to build the cars with steel wheels and assemble them in Montreal, which Fisher said would cost about one-third of the price quoted by the Bombardier/Alstom consortium.

According to the notice of intention filed on Friday by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM), the bidders will have to make subway cars that ride "on pneumatics."

"We're challenging the correctness of the tender procedure," Fisher said. "The specifications blatantly favour one company's products and are therefore not competitive."

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/daily-commuter/More+bumps+loom+métro+pact/2484011/story.html